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Topic Pages contain an overview, definitions, biographies, related topics, images, plus links to relevant articles and other content provided by your library. Topic Page: Agricola, Georg, 1494-1555

Definition: Agricola, Georgius from The Columbia Encyclopedia

jôr'jēӘ Әgrĭk'ӘlӘ, Latinized from Georg Bauer (gā'ôrk bou'Әr), 1494–1555, German physician and scientist, known as the father of mineralogy. He was a pioneer in physical geology and the first to classify minerals scientifically. His celebrated work De re metallica (1556) was a standard in metallurgy and mining for over a century and was translated into English (1912) by Herbert C. Hoover and Lou H. Hoover.

Image from: Use of divining rods in prospecting for ore 1.... in Water Encyclopedia: Ground Water
Summary Article: Agricola, Georgius (1490-1555)
from The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography

Place: Germany

Subject: biography, earth science

German mineralogist who pioneered mining technology.

Born in Glauchau in Saxony, Agricola trained in medicine first in Leipzig and later in Italy. He served for many years as town physician in Joachimstal. Involvement with the medicinal use of minerals sparked his curiosity about the products of the Earth, and he soon developed an interest in the local mining ventures. Agricola quickly made himself an authority on mining, metal extraction, smelting, assaying, and related chemical processes. His The Nature of Fossils (1546) advances one of the first comprehensive classifications of minerals. Familiar with previous writers on mining like Bermannus, Agricola went on to explore the origins of rocks, mountains, and volcanoes. His most renowned work, On Metals/De Re Metallica (1556) is an indispensable survey, lavishly illustrated with woodcuts, of the smelting and chemical technology of the time and of the state of the mining industry. Drawing intelligently upon the Pirotechnia of the Italian Vannucio Biringuccio, Agricola's work became a standard text, being translated into Italian and German.

"Agricola, Georgius (1490-1555)." In The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Helicon. Helicon, 2018. https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/agricola_georgius
Agricola, Georgius (1490-1555). (2018). In Helicon (Ed.), The Hutchinson dictionary of scientific biography. [Online]. Abington: Helicon. Available from: https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/agricola_georgius [Accessed 23 February 2019].
"Agricola, Georgius (1490-1555)." The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Helicon, 2018. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/agricola_georgius. Accessed 23 Feb. 2019.
© RM, 2018. All rights reserved.

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